


The Boy Made of Stardust

by ImogenSmiley



Series: Reigisa [24]
Category: Free!
Genre: Ambition, Anxiety, Doubt, Dreams, Dreams and ambitions, Established Hazuki Nagisa/Ryuugazaki Rei, Established Relationship, FOR THE FUTURE, Fear, Insecurity, M/M, Mutual Support, Realising Potential, Self-Doubt, Worry, Writemas, dealing with stress, fear of the future, writemas 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:27:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21902983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImogenSmiley/pseuds/ImogenSmiley
Summary: "You are made of the same particles that caused the big bang. Stardust is in your blood. Expand, explore. You can be whoever you want to be.”
Relationships: Hazuki Nagisa/Ryuugazaki Rei
Series: Reigisa [24]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1531475
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	The Boy Made of Stardust

Nagisa and Rei had boarded the train home, the sun was still high in the sky, beams of light streaming through the windows, bathing their faces in warmth. Summer was upon them, the couple had dominated the prefectural competitions the previous day, and despite everything, Nagisa hadn’t been as confident in himself as he probably should have been. Even Captain Nitori Aiichirou from Samezuka Academy seemed more self-assured, and that was saying something.

Rei had been hesitant to point it out, both of the boys were more prideful than they tended to admit, neither wanting to show weakness, especially in the presence of the other. The pair had a bad habit of bottling up emotions until things overflowed, and it seemed that third year really was getting to them.

Every day that lazily made its way past them, was one day closer to their graduation, to their leaving, to their futures and it seemed to fill them with more dread than either wished to admit.

Rei had been excused from several lessons due to panic attacks and even Gou-chan had had a breakdown at her desk. The workloads were getting to everyone, how did their predecessors manage to do all of that, with them making their lives difficult. They would have to apologise for being so meddlesome and theatrical when they’d eventually reunite.

Nagisa had a lot to deal with, Rei knew that. Unlike the blue haired teen, the blond’s family had become expectant of a high quality of work, especially since he was in a relationship with someone as “articulate”, “cultured” and “intelligent” as Rei-chan.

It was strange, despite his increasingly good grades, and his heightened status on the Iwatobi Swim Team, Nagisa was more stressed about college than Rei had ever seen him. Perhaps it had something to do with the careers advisor, maybe it had more to do with the fact that he had shown little interest in a career since he was young and wanted to be an astronaut, his words.

Rei wasn’t sure, but it seemed that he, and the empty train carriage were due to get a helping of magenta tears.

Nagisa turned to his boyfriend and took hold of his hand, “Rei-chan, college is scary.”

“Don’t worry, Nagisa-kun, I’m scared about college too.”

“But at least you know what you want to do, you’ve been very vocal about wanting to be an architect and that’s great but what about me!”

“Nagisa-kun, I can’t just choose your career for you.”

“But that’s not fair! You could do anything! You could be the best pianist and composer since Mozart or Beethoven or whichever one died last! You could be a world record swimmer or a physicist, you could discover life on Mars or Saturn or Neptune! You could build the first self-sustaining upside-down pyramid outside of a video game, Rei-chan you could be anything!”

“And you couldn’t?” Rei replied without hesitation, “What about you, Nagisa-kun? Are you saying you couldn’t?”

He hiccupped, “I don’t think I’d be very good at any of those things.”

“You wouldn’t have to be, those are things I could do, but what about you! You could be a model, walking London fashion week, travel the world, taking photos of the most insanely peculiar things. You could be a zoologist, taking care of endangered wildlife! You could go into physics and astrophysics and become an astronaut if you really wanted, or you could stay in the water, and win medals as a breast stroke swimmer. Nagisa-kun, you are made of the same particles that caused the big bang. Stardust is in your blood. Expand, explore. You can be whoever you want to be.”

“Really Rei-chan, you think I could do that?”

Rei took hold of his boyfriend’s hand, drawing it to his lips and kissing his knuckles. His deep violet eyes sparkled in the glow of the summer sun, “With every fibre of my being.”


End file.
